A certain book

The Irish President costs £4 million

Oh not that old chestnut.

@SholaMos1
·
17h
The Royal Family’s silence to date of Jeremy Clarkson violent attack of Meghan Markle is unforgivable.

This is not ‘dignified’ silence - by their strategic well intentioned silence they are advocating violence against Meghan and by extension all women

Shame. Shame. Shame. Shame

My concern re the Irish president, he stood for election as the
Labour Party candidate, we could have President Corbyn 😲

Oooooh no, don’t knock down St.Paul’s Cathedral because of royal weddings.

Whilst we are on the subject of slavery and the Royal Family.

Harry by his own admission is a user, or has been until recently of a gamut of recreational and probably illegal substances. How are such drugs available to all and sundry, unicorns don't bring them . It's not a victimless crime. County Lines, enforced slave labour, torture, cartels, death squads!!!

Very true TB. I wondered who his suppliers are.

TerriBull

Whilst we are on the subject of slavery and the Royal Family.

Harry by his own admission is a user, or has been until recently of a gamut of recreational and probably illegal substances. How are such drugs available to all and sundry, unicorns don't bring them . It's not a victimless crime. County Lines, enforced slave labour, torture, cartels, death squads!!!

So true, any drug taking has consequences going all the way back to the cultivation of drug crops.

Just because the user is not a down and out obvious druggie does not mean that theirs is a victimless habit.

GrannyGravy13

TerriBull

Whilst we are on the subject of slavery and the Royal Family.

Harry by his own admission is a user, or has been until recently of a gamut of recreational and probably illegal substances. How are such drugs available to all and sundry, unicorns don't bring them . It's not a victimless crime. County Lines, enforced slave labour, torture, cartels, death squads!!!

So true, any drug taking has consequences going all the way back to the cultivation of drug crops.

Just because the user is not a down and out obvious druggie does not mean that theirs is a victimless habit.

Arguably he did his bit for drug prevention by shooting 25 Taliban. Afghanistan has and continues to be the largest source of many drugs. UK policy towards this has varied over the years. You could also argue that heroin users are in fact supporting the poorest agricultural workers in Afghanistan for whom heroin is the most profitable crop.
It's all a complete mess anyway
rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/rusi-newsbrief/what-future-uk-drugs-policy-afghanistan

I doubt that Elly Griffiths'book will be slashed to a third of its original price, because she is a popular author.

Let's knock down the Coliseum while we are at it and other ancient buildings throughout Europe; the pyramids and Temples, all built by slave labour, and most off the castles and Cathedrals in England and Wales, built by serfs.
It will make them all feel so much better.

Glorianny

GrannyGravy13

TerriBull

Whilst we are on the subject of slavery and the Royal Family.

Harry by his own admission is a user, or has been until recently of a gamut of recreational and probably illegal substances. How are such drugs available to all and sundry, unicorns don't bring them . It's not a victimless crime. County Lines, enforced slave labour, torture, cartels, death squads!!!

So true, any drug taking has consequences going all the way back to the cultivation of drug crops.

Just because the user is not a down and out obvious druggie does not mean that theirs is a victimless habit.

Arguably he did his bit for drug prevention by shooting 25 Taliban. Afghanistan has and continues to be the largest source of many drugs. UK policy towards this has varied over the years. You could also argue that heroin users are in fact supporting the poorest agricultural workers in Afghanistan for whom heroin is the most profitable crop.
It's all a complete mess anyway
rusi.org/explore-our-research/publications/rusi-newsbrief/what-future-uk-drugs-policy-afghanistan

Afghanistan may well be the source of heroin, but as we know cocaine and other narcotics derive from parts of Latin America, where like the poorest people in Afghanistan, lead wretched lives, yes the drug industry does give them a sort of subsistence living but the price some would argue is too great.

Harry speaks a lot about mental health, particularly relating to young people, how does he imagine the mental health is for those who are coerced into moving drugs around individual countries and the world. People, some incredibly young, are trafficked, tortured, enslaved and worst case scenarios murdered. Possibly if he wasn't so introspective he might ,whilst chilling with a roll up or whatever when his own children are safely tucked up give the wider picture some thought. By being a user he is also an enabler of a lot of misery involved in the drug trade.

Callistemon21

^Not in a typhoon. On the ground FAC^.

Nor directing a real exercise.
On a simulator?

FAC training is simulators, computers if you will. Fighters fly in and practice 'on time, on target' with no munitions, scoring 'hits' on said targets provided by FACs computer. No harm apart from the jets screaming in low level over the countryside, joint training for the Army FAC and the RAF pilot.

"A military exercise or war game is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat."

Harry explains training for such, jets low over Sandringham, perhaps typhoons out of Coningsby. No munitions. He had to be trained, securely, somewhere. Queen's back garden is, for him, a safe place. Totally plausible.

Have just finished reading ‘Spare’.

These are just a few of my personal observations.

1) Harry has never got over the tragic death of his mother. Should have had more counselling back then, assuming he didn’t, but 25 years ago, thoughts on such matters were different.

2). William, being the firstborn and second in line to the throne, was always going to be treated differently to Harry. He is also much more academic, and this has rankled with Harry.

3) I didn’t find the lengthy sections about his army life the most interesting part, but think that army life suited him and he seemed good at it.

4) It’s very clear, Harry makes no secret of the fact that in his 20’s, he is desperate to meet someone, get married, have a family. This doesn’t happen with either Chelsy or Cressida.

5) He cannot believe his luck when he gets introduced to a certain Meghan Markle. Besotted is an understatement, and to think she knows nothing about the Royal Family?
Poor, deluded Harry. Meghan had her eye on him from the get go- a wealthy prince of the realm, but troubled and needy, just ripe for the picking.
She could have helped him so much more, I feel. Instead, she has fed on his insecurities, coming across as a mother substitute in many ways, and not helping him move on from the past.

6) The last section of the book is, of course, the downward spiral. I think there are issues from all sides, but we only read Harry’s side of it.

I’m glad I‘ve read the book, but it wasn’t comfortable reading.

Very good summary Calendargirl. The thing I took away from it is that nobody should have to live in this way. I have never been a republican, but this made me think that a royal family in the world of social media is unsustainable. It just isn't fair.

Thanks Calendargirl. Were you able to form a view as to how William has not continued to be so dramatically affected by his mother’s death? Without wishing to downplay the tragedy of early death, I have long wondered if this is almost an excuse Harry trades on, for want of a better description, to garner sympathy. Is he still so genuinely traumatised as he would have us believe?

Germanshepherdsmum

Thanks Calendargirl. Were you able to form a view as to how William has not continued to be so dramatically affected by his mother’s death? Without wishing to downplay the tragedy of early death, I have long wondered if this is almost an excuse Harry trades on, for want of a better description, to garner sympathy. Is he still so genuinely traumatised as he would have us believe?

Reading that I am reminded of the tragic death of Princess Grace of Monaco, and how both her daughters were affected, Princess Caroline less so because she was older in her 20s. I think Stephanie was still at school and never spoke about the effect the trauma that her mother's death had on her until a long while after, and only to say she wasn't at the wheel of the car. She was actually with her mum when she was killed in the horrific accident. Since then the younger sibling has had a troubled personal life but she never trades on her mother's death like Gsm mentions above.

GSM I think Harry is not as intelligent, not as capable of reflection and a much more vulnerable character (like his mother?). I am not going to point the finger of blame for that, children turn out differently don't they?.
Also I suspect William has been in part rescued by the Middleton family.

Does Harry speak of Tiggy in his book ?

So maybe Mamie, William's ability to cope "better" with their mother's death is yet another thing that irks Harry along with the list of other stuff?

Yes he does and very warmly. I thought she was sent for when Disna died, but I don't think he mentions that. Later on she was with him at various times and was obviously important to him. He also talks of a friend, who he says was the only person to talk to him about Diana when he went back to Ludgrove two weeks after she died. The friend was later killed in a car accident and he is distraught about that.

Poor Diana came from what we used to call a "broken home"

Charles's parents did remain married but their style of parenting was somewhat unusual and did not seem to involve the clear expression of unconditional love of a parent for a child.

William may very well have been rescued by the Middleton family who welcomed him many years before he and Katharine became engaged.

Harry fell for a woman who had already had one unsuccessful marriage, but was also at war with most of her biological family.

Somewhere along the line, if you want a marriage to work, especially with the added pressures of being in the public eye, you need to see how a marriage can work.

No-one has so far shown that to Harry and Meghan, so they are on very rocky ground.

I don't get the impression it irks him Joseanne. With my teaching hat on I would have him down as very physically active and a visual and kinaesthetic learner. He clearly doesn't read and I don't get the impression he reflects much on other people's emotions and motivations. I may be wrong!

Interesting assessment.

Joseanne

Interesting assessment.

I guess that is what a lifetime of teaching does for you, doesn't it. 😂😂😂

Thank you Mamie, yes Harry was very close to Tiggy, he is
Godfather to one of her children. Diana was very jealous of Tiggy because the boys really loved her, they spent much time with her, fishing, climbing , shooting. Diana accused Tiggy of
having an abortion from an affair with Charles, she had to apologise.

Sad, isn't it?